Traveling abroad with a dog

Polish accession to the EU forced our country to adjust our regulations to EU standards. It also applied to a non- commercial transfer of dogs. Although borders are now open to people, you might want to consider legal requirement to solve the dilemma: take the dog with you or leave it at home? The EU regulations are quite complex, so we decided to present a selection of rules for traveling with dogs from Poland to EU countries and other states, so called third countries, as well as journeys from those countries.

EU directives precisely state that an animal must have a passport. The document must be issued by a qualified vet (the list is published on www.vetpol.org.pl) and serologic blood tests - if required - must be carried out only in specified laboratories.

Rules for dogs (cats, ferrets) traveling from Poland for non-commercial purposes

I. Dogs (cats and ferrets) traveling for non-commercial purposes from Poland to the following EU countries: Austria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Greece, Spain, the Netherlands, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Germany, Portugal, Slovenia, Hungary, are subject to the same regulations as animals traveling from the EU into Poland, i.e.:

1.  Must be identifiable by:

a legibly tattooed number or a microchip compliant with ISO 1784 norm or Annex A to ISO 11785 norm. If the chip is not compliant with any of these norms, the animal owner or carer must be prepared to read the microchip number at all times, i.e. have a reader.

2.  Animals must be vaccinated against rabies (the vaccination becomes valid after 21 days, if it is the first vaccination for an animal older than 3 months old (Commission’s decision no. 2005/91/WE of 2 Feb 2005, which determines when the rabies vaccination is considered valid). In case of follow-up vaccinations made regularly at intervals recommended by its manufacturer (booster dose), vaccination becomes valid on the day the booster was injected. If the owner or the person responsible for the animal doesn't have a certificate of the latest vaccination confirming that it was performed according to manufacturer’s recommendations, the follow-up vaccination is treated as the first one and become valid after 21 days.

3.  Animals must have a passport issued by a qualified vet and it must certify the validity of rabies vaccination.